Hamed Chapman

An anti-Islam American organisation run by evangelical philanthropists linked to Orthodox Christian groups and accused of collaborating with far-right activists has been operating secretively out of the House of Lords for over a decade, according to a cache of leaked documents.

The organisation, called the New Issues Group (NIG), includes former UKIP leader Malcolm Pearson and the originally Tory former Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords Baroness Caroline Cox, who has been forced to declare financial interests following the huge disclosure that also revealed their links to prominent anti-Muslim activists.

The cache of documents, acquired by the anti-fascist group Hope not Hate, even suggested that the anti-Islam organisation may have attempted to influence parliament by writing questions to be asked in the Lords.

Joe Mulhall, Research Director at Hope not Hate, described the existence of the secretive organisation as “pretty terrifying”. Their investigation “found members of the House of Lords collaborating with far-right Islamophobes,” he revealed.

Among the documents leaked are minutes of regular meetings convened by Baroness Cox on the parliamentary estate and attended by prominent and often controversial critics of Islam.

They also show that non-affiliated peer Lord Pearson was also present at many of the meetings, which began in 2013 under the name “The New Issues Group” and continued to take place in 2023.

Confirming the group’s existence, Baroness Cox said her failure to register support from the not-for-profit company Equal and Free Limited – which was used to pay for a parliamentary researcher, was an “oversight”. The peer, who has been a crossbench member since 2004, also failed to declare that she was an unpaid director of the company.

Minutes of a November 2013 meeting indicated that Anne Marie Waters, who in 2016 set up the UK branch of the anti-Islam group Pegida with Tommy Robinson, “was asked if she would help draft a question for Caroline Cox to ask in the Lords.”

The baroness, who was made a peer in 1982 upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the time, has denied NIG was anti-Muslim, saying it could “certainly not” be described in such a way. Instead, she said, it was a “meeting of people who support the aims of my bill”, referring to a private member’s bill, first introduced in 2011, that allegedly aimed to protect Muslim women in Britain from sharia law. “I have strong support from Muslim women,” she added.

In March 2016, the minutes state that “Following February’s NIG meeting, MP [Malcolm Pearson] tabled a number of written parliamentary questions”, which covered sharia financing, grooming in Rotherham, and counter-extremism strategy. Pearson dismissed any suggestions the NIG interfered with, claiming he drafted all questions by himself.

Another member of the NIG was Alan Craig, a former UKIP spokesperson who launched the far-right group Hearts of Oak in 2020. Its online “guests” include Tommy Robinson, founder of the anti-Muslim English Defence League (EDL). Craig denied he was far-right, describing himself as a “social conservative by conviction”.

Among the documents is also a 2015 “memorandum” created by another NIG member, Magnus Nielsen—a known anti-Muslim activist with links to the EDL—which outlined a proposal to launch a street protest organisation.

Founded in 2012, the group met as recently as January this year. Its existence emerged after Pearson emailed 235 people, but instead of blind carbon copying (BCC) them, accidentally sent it so that everyone could see the entire list. “Islam is a vast subject. But if we try to discuss it in public, we are accused of Islamophobia. Our MPs are too frightened of the growing Muslim vote to discuss it. Several of my fellow peers jeer when I raise it in the Lords,” Pearson said.

In February 2009, Cox courted controversy when she and the UKIP peer invited Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders to show the anti-Islam film Fitna before the House of Lords. While Wilders was initially prevented from entering the UK, they succeeded after 200 members of the English Defence League reportedly marched in support.

Baroness Cox
(Photo credit: Roger Harris/Parliamentary)

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